Woman has part of nose bitten off in horror attack

CRISIS: Medics shocked by drink and drug-fuelled violence

A YOUNG young woman underwent intensive surgery today after having part of her nose bitten off in a gruesome and unprovoked attack.

And in a separate incident, another girl had to be put into a medically induced coma after she was punched at a club in the city centre.

Gardai were today appealing for help in tracking down two women believed to be behind a vicious attack which resulted in a young Dublin woman having part of her nose ripped off.

They are particularly interested to talking to taxi drivers who may may picked up the women.

The 22-year-old victim was outside a pub on Tara Street in the early hours of Sunday morning when another female reveller randomly trapped her in a head lock and bit off her right nostril.

Headlock

The victim, known as Aoife, revealed that surgeons will perform a skin graft from her forehead in a bid to heal her nose.

"She (the attacker) was obviously off her face on something because she was about five foot two, and the strength of her, she had the strength of a fella," she told Joe Duffy's Liveline.

"She had me by the hair. It was like she had me in a headlock, kind of, and she bit onto my nostril and kind of shook her head side to side and ripped the right side of my nose.

"I'm going to be left with a scar on my face, my face isn't going to be the same. They're taking a skin graft on my forehead so I'm going to be left with a scar on my forehead."

Meanwhile, senior medical sources have expressed alarm at the level of incidents.

They warned that weekend violence in the capital is spiralling out of control.

"Doctors and nurses are blown away by what we're seeing," one source explained.

"Friday and Saturday nights are just hell in A&E. The level of violence and serious incidents we are dealing with is just astounding."

Staff at St James's Hospital -- the busiest in the city -- treated a young woman who was put into an induced coma after being attacked.

A hospital insider told the Herald: "A young girl was brought in after she'd been out in town. She was trying to get through a crowd in a pub and one girl punched her, and I believe she retaliated and then another girl punched her back."

"She had to be put into a medically induced coma and brought to intensive care."

Sources at a series of hospitals said staff had to deal with a spate of other unprovoked attacks over the weekend.

One source said that Dublin city is a mecca of drink and drug- fuelled violence -- with staff struggling to cope with the level of casualties.

However another source said that violence was "no longer confined" to weekends, adding that frontline staff were on guard all week.

Bottled

"It's not confined to Saturday nights. It happens from Wednesday nights onwards. And the amount of stuff that happens that you wouldn't even hear of is unbelievable.

"Ten years ago if someone told me they'd been punched for nothing, I wouldn't believe them. But now people are getting punched and bottled for nothing. There's a spate of attacks happening."

Chairman of the HSE Dublin North East, Christy Burke, said hospitals can "barely cope" with the violence on our streets.

"It's just reached unprecedented levels and it's bordering on crisis-point at times," he told the Herald.